Some
manufacturers that make cheap supplements for arthritis and other diseases
appear more concerned marketing lowest prices rather than for quality, safety
and effectiveness, according to federal officials and research studies. Pervasive pesticide usage abroad, coupled
with failure by supplement makers to conduct sufficient testing, results in undetected
contaminated products. Laboratories have discovered supplements for sale containing
only trace amounts of the advertised ingredient and undeclared substitutions including
drugs. 1,3

Many dietary supplements target specific
needs. Popular examples include arthritis joint pain, weight loss, sexual
enhancement, cancer and muscle building. But today’s consumer has
abundant reasons to wonder whether the ingredients listed on the label of a poor
quality product match what is contained in the bottle, or is safe to consume.

A segment of the industry practices “economic
adulteration, substituting less-expensive for more expensive ingredients,
including fillers in cheap supplements and related substitute species to maximize profits,” according
to the authors of the Perspective,
Breaking the gridlock: Regulation of dietary supplements in the United States,
in the journal Drug Testing &
Analysis in 2016.1

Some unscrupulous manufacturers spike their
products with hidden pharmaceuticals to increase effectiveness. Such practices are completely illegal and risk
serious injury or death to unsuspecting consumers.

The Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) recently recalled Pro
ArthMax, promoted and sold as a
dietary supplement for joint, muscle and arthritic pain, after its analysis discovered
it contained six undeclared pharmaceuticals (chlorzoxazone, nefopam,
diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and indomethacin).1, 2

Government recalls may have little effect on the continued
availability of spiked products. One
would think that supplement recalls cleans the market of these products, but a
recent study found dozens of recalled supplements were still available for
purchase, two-thirds still containing banned ingredients.4

How can contaminated cheap supplements reach the market undetected?

Industry
critics believe weaknesses in regulations governing dietary supplements opens
the door to cheating by unethical opportunists that produce cheap supplements. No standardized testing to ensure
purity of raw ingredients and finished products is required by the current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) industry guidelines. Undiscovered contaminated products can
result.

The vague rules
require only the conduction of “at least one test” but do not dictate protocol.
To test comprehensively is expensive. To do so scrupulously adds significant additional
cost, reduces profits, and is not
required by law Makers of cheap
supplements--also known as discount supplements--cannot stay competitive unless
their production costs remain low.

“We’re seeing some real problems out there,” said Dr. Daniel Fabricant, who headed the FDA’s division of Dietary Supplement Programs, referring to manufacturing issues affecting large numbers of dietary supplement companies. He said tainted foreign-sourced botanicals raises questions about the safety of so-called health products sold here. “What we’re finding is that manufacturers are not testing their products.”5

In addition to contaminated herbal substances, consumers also are put at risk by the import of what Fabricant calls “the alphabet vitamins”—A, B, C, D and E—which have provenance in China and some, like botanicals, are tainted by contaminants, according to quotes in the article, FDA Official: 70% of supplement companies violate agency rules by Delthia Ricks in Newsday, August 2013. 5

The cGMP statutes are rooted in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. These regulations place accountability for safety on supplement makers, not on the enforcement arm of the FDA, which intercedes post-market, but not pre-market. Contrary to prevailing opinion, the FDA does not approve, inspect or even see dietary supplements before they’re sold. 5A, 5B

Low quality, ineffective, cheap supplements are readily available

The nutritional
supplement group of products known as vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS)
is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, projected to nearly
double in size topping $60 billion in 2021.6

An article sums up cheap supplements, as follows: “You do have
unrestricted, free access to mostly low-quality, ineffective discount vitamins
and nutritional supplements,” writes Rolf Hefti, an independent industry commentator
in his article, Dietary Supplement Regulation,
in which he added, “Indeed, an evaluation and comparison of over 1,600
health supplements revealed that the vast majority of products are of low or
mediocre quality (MacWilliam, 2007 & 2011).”7

Some supplement industry critics observe that exploding
growth, ease of entry into the industry, weak legislative policies and a lack
of FDA enforcement leads to a market permeated with cheap supplements. These
include so-called discount vitamin products typically found in drug stores or
big box retailers.

“Currently,
consumers and physicians remain uninformed because premarket testing of
supplement safety is not required,” wrote Pieter A. Cohen, M.D., a nationally
known researcher from Cambridge Health Alliance. “This asymmetry of information between
sellers and consumers leads to domination of the market by low-quality products
because the regulatory framework creates financial disincentives to sell
high-quality supplements.”8

Consumer demand fosters cheap supplements. Many people presume that supplements sold in the
marketplace are government approved. In
our culture consumers most often make purchase decisions based on cost, rather
than value. In addition, many fail to
recognize the true value of their health.

The FDA, Cohen believes, is overwhelmed by the
sheer volume of supplements and discouraged by political forces from acting
aggressively. When it comes to pulling a supplement ingredient, FDA’s attitude
is “show us the dead bodies,” he’s quoted as saying in the article, Revealing the hidden dangers of dietary
supplements published in Science Magazine August 2015. 9

That article also quoted Lyndsay Meyer, an FDA
spokeswoman: “Under current law, the FDA faces a high burden before it can take
enforcement action on a dietary supplement.” Concerning procurement of raw
ingredients, she added that the supply chain “is extremely fragmented. The individuals and businesses selling these
products may operate out of residential homes, and distribute via internet,
small stores, and mail. We recognize that more can and should be done.” 9

Poor manufacturing standards create supplements of low quality

Low-grade products are a
predictable outcome of poor manufacturing standards and a lack of adherence to
sound science in the conception of product development. Cheap supplements are characterized by the use of inexpensive foreign ingredients, binders
and fillers that lowers their production costs, but often results in
substandard quality and ineffectual performance. 1A

“A weak regulatory framework, which doesn’t
hold manufacturers to account, would be expected to result in a product of
lower quality. And that’s exactly what you see when you look at supplements on
the market today,” author Scott Gavura wrote in the 2013 article, New concerns about the safety and quality of
herbal supplements.1A

Some outcomes of
quality-compromised nutritional supplements (including multivitamin/ mineral
products) include too little or too much of labeled ingredients, and
contaminants such as steroids, stimulants, prescription drugs, bacteria,
pesticides and heavy metals.

One article by Dr. Cohen, Perspective: American Roulette—Contaminated Dietary Supplements,
published in the New England Journal of
Medicine (NEJM), said that the contaminated products discovered by the FDA
“represent only a fraction of the contaminated supplements on the market. Unfortunately, lenient regulatory oversight
of dietary supplements, combined with the FDA’s lack of resources, has created
a marketplace in which manufacturers can introduce hazardous new products with
virtual impunity,” 10

Nearly two-thirds of dietary supplement firms fail agency guidelines

During a
seven-year period from 2010-2016, the FDA has found at average of 65.3% of supplement companies inspected fail to pass
the most elementary of the industry’s safety guidelines, often for insufficient
or no testing of raw ingredients. The
industry has shown some improvement after averaging 70% non-compliance for each
of the three years from 2010-2012. For
years 2013-2016 the failure rates were 65%, 62%, 58% and 62%, according to
details obtained from FDA in March 2017 via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
by ConsumerLab.com. 11,12

The most common cGMP manufacturing violation is failure to establish specifications for the identity, purity, strength and composition of finished dietary supplement batches. (Condensed, the maker did not test for impurities that could affect quality).13

“How can companies put out products that are good quality if they are not properly tested?” asks industry consultant, Marian Boardley, in response to reports FDA inspectors often discover supplement companies that neglect to establish specifications that identify the expected results of testing and examinations. 13

Kathleen Torney, an FDA investigator from Denver, said that certain firms fail to conduct tests at all, or fail to use a valid scientific testing method. Her comments were made at the Rocky Mountain Dietary Supplement Forum September 25, 2015 in Boulder, Colorado. Inadequate testing is a well-known issue within the dietary supplement industry with one in five facilities receiving non-compliance Form 483 notices for failure to verify the identity of an ingredient prior to using it through a test or examination, according to Josh Long’s article: Failing to Establish Specs is Most Common GMP Citation in Supplement Industry, October 1, 2015 in Natural Products Insider.13

“The dietary supplement industry does not have a lot of scientific expertise themselves and has to rely on contract laboratories,” observed Rocky Mountain Forum speaker Tara Lin Couch, Ph.D., an industry consultant. She noted that contract laboratories are also unfamiliar with the specifications required under the cGMP. “It took the pharmaceutical industry 20-plus years to figure out how to comply with the manufacturing regulations covering drugs,” she said. “So, eight years is not that long for the supplement industry which had no familiarity with GMP regulations whatsoever.” 13

China supplies 70% of the world’s cheap supplement ingredients

China’s cheap labor and
vast resources gives it a competitive foothold in the world’s marketplace. “China has become the go-to raw ingredients
supplier for the dietary supplement industry.
It is estimated that China supplies the global dietary supplement
industry upward of 70% of its raw materials and ingredients”, according to the
article by Theodora McCormick The Dietary Supplement Industry in the Time
of Trump published in Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) Nov/Dec 2017 issue
of Update Magazine. 14

“Companies that source
ingredients from Chinese suppliers,” McCormick writes, “are worried that the
Trump Administration is going to levy tariffs on imported Chinese goods. This will increase the cost of finished
products which will hurt the industry.”

Whether intended for
cheap supplements or otherwise, a Certificate
of Analysis (COA) for Dietary Supplement Components is provided by the
component supplier to its customers for each delivered lot. A COA is impressive in its scope, including
numerous aspects of the qualities, tests and traceability to lot/batch numbers
or codes identifying the material quantity covered by the certificate. COAs
notwithstanding, the cGMPs require supplement manufacturers to perform
independent testing to confirm the accuracy of the ingredients covered by the
COA. There have been many instances of
materials imported from China with a COA—but they’re contaminated.14

When a supplement
company does not perform independent testing of ingredients, it may manufacture
contaminated supplements. And neither the company nor the FDA will be the wiser
until consumers are harmed.

Cheap supplements ingredients dilemma—falsified China analyses

“Please use fake COA,” an American supplement owner instructed his
Chinese supplier in an email uncovered by federal authorities in an 11-count
indictment against the Dallas weight loss and workout supplement maker USPLabs.
Two other emails exchanged between company officials read, “China can just
doctor us a COA stating it’s an extract,” and “LOL, stuff is completely 100%
synthetic” referencing a dangerous and illegal stimulant, dimethylamylamine,
known as DMAA.15, 16

The indictment alleged “USPLabs engaged in a conspiracy to import ingredients from China using false Certificates of Analysis and false labeling and then lied about the source and nature of those ingredients after it put them in its products.” The indictment declares that USPlabs told some of its wholesalers and retailers that the dietary supplement manufacturer used natural plant extracts in products called Jack3d and OxyElite Pro, when in fact the company was using a synthetic stimulant manufactured in a Chinese chemical factory 16

The 37-page indictment also alleges that the defendants sold some of their products without determining whether they would be safe to use. To the contrary, it notes, the defendants knew of studies that linked the products to liver toxicity, and the indictment said several people needed liver transplants to save their lives after using the products. The owners earned $400 million from the scheme.

China farmlands heavily contaminated with toxic heavy metals

China’s air pollution is
widely documented. Haze produced by factories and automobiles sometimes make
visibility impossible across the street.
People seen wearing masks is common.
Perhaps less chronicled is the contamination of China’s water and soil.
Large amounts of China’s water and farm lands have been rendered unsafe, a
result of poorly regulated industrial expansion, overmining, and uncontrolled
use of pesticides and fertilizers.

This unbridled
industrialization in China for the last 40 years has resulted in nearly 20% of
its farm land polluted with toxic heavy metals, according to a survey report
issued by the Chinese government. 17

The Survey Report on Soil Pollution in Chinaissued in
April 2014 by the Ministries of Environmental Protection and Land and
Resources, says 19.4 % of China’s arable land, and 16.1% of the mainland’s soil
in general is in a state of toxic contamination. According to the report, spanning a period
from April 2005 until December 2013, nearly 83% of the contaminants found on
farms are “inorganic” contaminants, which include cadmium, mercury, arsenic,
copper and lead—all toxic heavy metals. The survey results said the overall
soil environmental conditions in the China are not optimistic. 18

Contaminated China ingredients show up in finished supplements

For years, dietary
supplement industry watchdogs and public health advocates have alerted
Americans that contaminated materials from China end up in finished cheap
supplements sold to consumers here. A
culture of buying cheap raw dietary ingredients from China, combined with the
blind trust without verification of the accompanied COA’s leads to contaminated
products. Verification of the COA adds
costs that some manufacturers of cheap supplements refuse to take.

“Most manufacturers
overlook the risk of buying foreign dietary ingredients,” said Marc Sanchez,
senior counsel of a law firm focused solely on FDA and USDA regulation. “On
average, the recalls handled by my firm largely stem from foreign raw dietary
ingredient tainted with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) or
pesticides.” In some cases, he said,
they have caused adverse health events to consumers. 19

Some cheap supplements are spiked and adulterated by fraudsters

The dietary supplement
playing field is not equal. In addition
to manufacturers of cheap supplements that import but don’t test cheap foreign
ingredients, there are fraudsters who add active ingredients but deliberately
hide them from labels to avoid immediate detection, according to comprehensive
research published in the journal Food
Science & Food Safety in 2013.20

“Fraudsters spike supplements with illegal drugs or previously banned substances in order to increase effectiveness and therefore customer satisfaction with the finished products,” the lead author, Virginia Wheatley said. “But consumers remain unaware.”

The study concluded such operations are a direct threat to public health and further magnify the issue as unscrupulous owners continually evade regulatory hurdles and established quality controls.20

The illegal activities are referred to in the study as Dietary Supplement Fraud (DSF), which the FDA often classifies as Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA). “Fraudsters are focused on taking advantage of regulatory loopholes for their own economic profit, but do not consider or do not care about the public health consequences of their activities,” the author wrote. “Savvy fraudsters took advantage of opportunities to promote health benefits without strict oversight of their marketing activities. As a result, misbranded and adulterated products reach consumers.”20.

The purpose of the research was to provide a comprehensive overview on the public health threat of DSF in response to adverse health events reported from adulterated supplements. Consumers experienced severe health effects, such as lowered blood pressure, kidney damage, heart-related complications, or have lost their lives, the study said, while calling for regulatory reform and consumer education.20

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has been a
compendium of drug information for many years.
It is a nonprofit organization that annually publishes a National
Formulary (NF) covering quality standards of human and animal drugs. The USP is a trusted companion for physicians
and pharmacists. Its USP Verified mark on a dietary
supplement label is perhaps more recognizable in the medical community than
other supplement quality seals, such as GMP, NSF International, National
Products Association (NPA) and ConsumerLab (CL)21

It is important to note that companies are
required to pay a fee for the seals.
Consumers should therefore be cautioned against forming any
inappropriate conclusions about companies that choose not to pay the fee and
participate in such programs.21

It is important to note that all supplement label
seals suggest quality, but do not guarantee it.
“No supplement seal guarantees the safety or effectiveness of the
ingredients in the bottle,” says Sharon Akabas, Ph.D., associate director of
educational initiatives at Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition,
according to the article, What ‘USP
Verified’ and Other Supplement Seals Mean, in Consumer Reports. 21

To qualify for label seal, initial facilities and
product inspections are usually conducted, as well as testing periodic product
purchases from the market later. It is
impossible to inspect all finished batches and packaging. 21

One manufacturer far exceeds quality standards of the USP seal

Is it possible to use ‘cheap
supplements’ and ‘high quality’ in the same sentence? I don’t believe so.

Cheap supplements are eliminated from
the equation when a company obsesses to achieve purity at whatever cost
necessary to exceed compliance with every aspect of the intent of the cGMP’s.

Innovation and science are at the heart of the #1 natural nutrition company in America, which conducts 350 tests of raw ingredients (220 more than the standards established by the USP) and 100,000 quality tests annually.

When absolute quality is the goal, a manufacturer cannot curtail production costs by not having a dedicated research and development team which develops, tests, and delivers new products. It cannot fail to acquire state-of-the-art scientific equipment to surpass the highest industry standards of product purity, safety, and effectiveness. It cannot not have exhaustive product testing.

It’s one thing to say products are good, but another to prove they are effective through scientific studies conducted in collaboration with leading academic labs that are unrestricted and encouraged to publish their findings, whatever the results. The academics control publication, not our recommended company. This is very important.

Through these collaborations, this industry leader has published over 135 scientific papers and presentations, 100 of which are clinical studies published in peer-reviewed publications and online in their Complete Research Archive. They’re the only supplement company we’ve heard of that clinically tests all their nutritional products for efficacy.

Do you mistrust cheap supplements? Choose the best money can buy

Consider the following four statements:

Cheap supplements are made without clinical
studies for effectiveness.

They’re produced from inexpensive foreign raw
materials with little or no tests for contaminants and composition.

Cheap supplements are ineffective and valueless, in the opinion of many
industry experts.

You’re gambling your money away without proof of clinical studies
whether the supplement is cheap or not so cheap.

Are they organic; or as our
recommended company explains, beyond organic?

Are their ingredients tested
for 350 contaminants?

Are they safe?

Are they supported by clinical
studies on the finished product?

Are they tested for efficacy
prior to marketing to confirm effectiveness in the human body?

Are the contents accurately
listed on the product label?

Do dosage strengths of contents
confirm label claims?

Surprising, for a large majority of dietary supplements on the market, the
answer to most of these questions is a resounding NO. We know of only one company so transparent
that their answers are made available to the public.

From personal use since 1989, we recommend the manufacturer that answers YES to each question, the leading natural nutrition company in the U.S. For arthritis relief, their joint and muscle pain relief products are extremely safe, tested and effective.

They operate more like a pharmaceutical manufacturer and are remarkably different from other supplement companies. They won’t produce cheap supplements because the quality and science behind their products is unmatched in the industry--and that costs money. They far exceed the cGMP’s for purity.

The Shaklee study How Does Long-term Multiple Dietary Supplement Use Affect Health?demonstrated the positive effects of long-term use of multiple of its dietary supplements for 20 years or more. Those users had healthier levels of many chronic disease-related biomarkers including HDL cholesterol, homocysteine, and C-reactive protein.

The Telomere Research Studyshowed that Shaklee long-term supplement users had a 40% lower rate of telomere shortening across the adult age range of the caps that protect the ends of chromosomes. As we age, telomeres grow shorter preventing cells from being able to replenish tissue necessary to help live a long, healthy life. Researchers determined an 80-year-old Shaklee supplement user is projected to have the same telomere length as a 41-year-old non-supplement user, based on the preliminary clinical study.

You simply cannot manufacture cheap supplements and attain high quality and performance. Shaklee is the gold standard supplement company leader, based in California since its inception in 1956. There’s no disappointing ineffectiveness when you take the best supplements.

Their motto is The Golden Rule. They are a company with a conscience.. Their mission is to make each of their products the best and safest that money can buy. Period. Guaranteed. They pride themselves on their difference compared to competitors. And isn’t that what you want?

If you are looking for pure, safe arthritis pain products that work, follow this "pain trio" link. You’ll be glad you did. Throw away those cheap supplements. You’ll like the way your body feels when your cells are nourished with the best supplements money can buy.

Cheap Supplements Disclaimer:
Health statements on this Cheap Supplements page have not been evaluated by the
Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose,
treat, cure, or prevent any disease

Proving Our Products are Effective. Shaklee has been committed to science since its inception in 1956. It is one thing to say products are good; it is another to prove they are effective. Shaklee has a continued commitment to understanding human health through scientific studies. For more About Us information and science links, click here for details.

Natural Supplements. Glucosamine, boswellia, GLA, Lecithin, Vit-E and the best omega-3 fish oil are among dietary supplements that provide alternative treatment to painkilling drugs for arthritis with minimal side effects. Click here for more information

Health statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration.
This site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Copyright 2008 Arthritis-Relief-Naturally.com
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